Wheel-tire.



`T. MIDGLEY.

WHEEL TIRE.

APPLroATIoN FILED s132111, 190s.

1,067,361, v11119111911 Juy 15,1913.

All

WMA/Lewes wpa/nm' y n' m www UNITED srarpsiagunr onirica l THOMAS-MIDGLEY, F HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0 THE HARTFORD RUBBER WORKS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT. A

WHEEL-TIRE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 11, 1906.

Patented July 1 5, 19.1.3.

serial No. 334,105.

To lall 'whom 'it may concern:

known that I, THOMAS MIDGLEY, aeitizen-ofth'e United States, residing in Hartford, Hartford county, Connecticut, "'v'lhave invented new and useful Improvements iny Wheel-Tires, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wheel tires and securing devices therefor, and it has special loirefcrence tovsolid tires of rubber or other resilient material, Suchas are used on ear riages,`trucks, and l,other road vehicles.

The principal object of the invention is to produce a certain amount of. cushioning` effect the use of a minimum famount of rubber in the construction of a'tire of any `given width and at the same time to provide or theready removal and application of the tire. y L 205, Other; objeetswill appear as the invention is hereinafter described in Adetail in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which corresponding parts are designated similar characters of reference in the several'views.l

s A.The scope of'fthe invention is clearly defined-in the appended claims.

Inthejdrawings: Figure l. is a transverse sectional view through a felly, wheel rim landt? tire embodying thepresent invention.

Fig.-2 is a detail plan View showing one arrangement of the base-plate and interlaced wiresl embeddedin the tire. Fig. 3 is a detailplan view` showing another arrange- -ment of the base-plate and interlaced wires. Practically all rubber tires for vehicle wheels as constructed hitherto have been secured upon the wheel rim by binding, clamping or bolting them in a channel. The cha'hnel in some instances has been made quite deep and in others comparatively shallow; but in every instance, so far as I am aware, the custom has been rto seat the base of the tire in a channel of greater or less '16 depth. This practice, which has been fol- Vlowed primarily to prevent lateral displace -,ment of the tires, is objectionable because the resilience of that portion of the tire which is inclosed in the channel is useless in providing a cushion for the wheel. It is therefore desirable to mount the tire on a laterally unineloscd flat surface so that all the rubber or other resilient material of which' the tire is composed may be made refiectve in producing a cushion for the wheel. It is also important that the t-ire be so constructed that there willbe no possibility of lateral displacement and yet be readily removable from the wheel rim Aor applicable thereto when necessary. The desirable features of construction mentioned are embodied in the tire and rim construction .illustrated in two slightly different forms inthe accompanying drawings.

The tire comprises a body 1 of rubber or other suitable resilient material formed in an endless annulus and having molded in and incorporated with the base thereof an anchoring structure consisting of an endless band orv plate 2 provided with a series of perforations and a lplurality of wires or rods 3 secured in the apertures in the baseplat'e or band. The wires or rods 3 are preferably twisted into helices as shown, but

`lthey may be bent into irregular zigzag shape instead, the object being to present a retieular structure which the rubber of the tire body l will penetrate thoroughly and so obtain a secure hold thereon. The endless band or plate 2 is folded longitudinally on the median line to present an in' wardly disposed rib or bead 4 which projects beyond the inner or wheel face of the tire and cooperates with a pair of Wedging rings 5, which forma seat for the tire, in securing the tire/against lateral displacement. The two wedging rings 5 transversely at some point in their circum` ference so as to conform readily to the inclined outer surfaces G of the main rim member 7, which is shrunk on the felly F like an ordinary metallic tire' or rim. llie two wedging rings 5 present inclined faces for engagement with the correspondingly inclined surfaces 6 of the main rim member, but their outer or tire-seating surfaces 5 are parallel to the axis of the wheel and are transversely flat, so that no channel is formed thereby to receive any portion of the rubber or other resilient material entering into the construction of the tire. When forced'home on the Wheel rim by means of the transverse bolts 8 and side rings or clamping4 plates i), the adjacent edges of the wedging ring-s 5 Contact with and grip firmly the bead Il of the base-plate or band. 2 which is embedded in the tire, thus absolutely preventing any lateral movement whatever of the tire upon its seat. In order to insure proper seating fof the wedging are eut in the manufacture of -the-wedging rings,A

which are preferably rolled finto form.

The'mode of applying a tire 'to the rim or removing it therefrom will be readily understood from an inspection of Fig. 1, from which it will be seen that the transverse bolts 8, one of the wedgiiig rings 5, and one of the side rings or clamping plates 9 can be brought approximately into position before the application of the tire arid the tire can be then slipped over the wheel and partiallyfseated on the wedging ring which is approximately in positioln The other wedging ring and side .ring or clamping plate are then applied and the entire structure secured in position by tightening the transverse bolts. effected by first looseningr the bolts, then removing one of the side rings or'clamping plates-.and the adjacent wedging ring.v

After this the other side ring andwedging ringl are loosened and the tire may be r'ead ilyslipped oit' the wheel.

In lfig. 2 I have illustrateda-conveiiieiit arrangement of the wii'es or rods 3 in the base-band or plate 2., the apertures through which -the wires are laced being arranged on lines extending across the baseband or plate in a slightlyoblique direction. The

apertures in the band or plate 2 as illus? trated in lilig. 3 are arranged lfor wires Il extending circ-umferentially' of the wheel, and other arrangements `may be adopted if desired without departing from the invention.

Having thus described my iiiventioii,\vhat -I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters latent is: l

1. In a wheel, the-combination with ariin and folly, of an external resilient non-exv -pansihle tire having an inner transverse The removal of the tire is' cylindrical surface and an internally projecting anchoring rib or flange, wed ing rim members having cylindrical sur aces corresponding to said-cylindrical tire surface and situated between said felly and tire, and means situated externally of said members and felly for forcing saidmembers inward and for holding the parts in posi-Y tion on the felly.

2. In a wheel, the combination with a rim' and felly, of an external resilient tire ha'v. ing an inner transverse cylindrical surface, non-expanding reinforcing parts embedded therein7 wedging rim members having cylin-vv drical surfaces corres )ending to said cylin-A drical tire surface an situated between said felly and tire, and side rings carried the felly for holding said wedging members in position.

3. The combination with a tire of resilibcdded in the base thereofV and comprising an endless plateor band presenting a rib or bead projecting inwardly beyond the wheel.

face of the tirejand bentwires or rods forming a reticular structure permeated by the resilient. material of the tire, and tire-secur-YA sloping inwardly toward vtheir edges and wedging members presenting a. transversely fiat tire-seating surface and inclined wheel faces corresponding to the inclined surfaces of the main rim member, whereby Said `wedging members are expanded radially when forced together over the inclined outer surfaces of themain rim member. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

l-I. Riicimm) Vos'ri, Gimmirr (lANNoN, v

n 70 v ent material, of an anchoring structure em- 

